Antidepressants Linked to Fracture Risk

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But one expert said he thought the study failed to prove that SSRI use is linked to an increased risk of bone breaks.

"These findings are hard to interpret," said Dr. Robert P. Heaney, a professor of medicine at the Osteoporosis Research Center at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. "Increased fracture risk has been associated with depression for years," he added.

Heaney said that to really uncover the role SSRIs may play in fractures, a study would have to compare depressed patients taking SSRIs with depressed patients taking other medications. "Then you could see if it was the depression causing the fractures or if it were the SSRIs. It may not be the SSRI at all," he said.

Studies like Goltzman's run the risk that people will stop taking their medication, Heaney said. "These kind of studies do some potential harm," he said.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health can tell you more about depression.